# Second Serve > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Second_Serve > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Second_Serve.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Serve > Source revision: 1355149198 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1986 television film directed by Anthony Page Second Serve Vanessa Redgrave as Renée Richards Genre Biography Drama Sport Written by Stephanie Liss Gavin Lambert Directed by Anthony Page Starring Vanessa Redgrave Martin Balsam Richard Venture Louise Fletcher Music by Brad Fiedel Country of origin United States Original language English Production Executive producer Linda Yellen Cinematography Robbie Greenberg Editor John C. Horger Running time 120 minutes Production company Lorimar-Telepictures Original release Network CBS Release May 13, 1986 (1986-05-13) ***Second Serve*** is a 1986 American [made-for-television](/source/Television_film) [biographical film](/source/Biographical_film) starring [Vanessa Redgrave](/source/Vanessa_Redgrave) as retired eye surgeon, professional tennis player, and [transgender](/source/Transgender) woman [Renée Richards](/source/Ren%C3%A9e_Richards). The film is based on her 1983 autobiography *Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story*[1] that was written with [John Ames](/source/John_Ames_(writer)). The script is by Stephanie Liss and [Gavin Lambert](/source/Gavin_Lambert) and the film was directed by [Anthony Page](/source/Anthony_Page). *Second Serve* aired on [CBS](/source/CBS) on May 13, 1986.[2] ## Plot In 1976, Renée Richards is on the tennis court as a professional tennis player. The film [flashes back](/source/Flashback_(narrative)) to 1964, when Renée Richards is an eye surgeon named Richard Radley (both roles played by Redgrave). Radley has a successful career and a fiancée, but secretly [cross-dresses](/source/Transvestism) at night. Unable to speak with his mother Sadie (Louise Fletcher), who is a psychiatrist, Radley consults his own psychiatrist, Dr. Beck (Martin Balsam), who advises him to grow a beard. This strategy works temporarily until Radley is [drafted](/source/Conscription) into the [Navy](/source/United_States_Navy), which does not allow beards. Following his discharge and a failed marriage, Radley undergoes [gender reassignment surgery](/source/Gender_reassignment_surgery) and becomes Renée. Renée relocates to California, resumes her career as a surgeon and begins dating. After playing in a local tennis tournament in [La Jolla](/source/La_Jolla%2C_San_Diego%2C_California), Renée is [outed](/source/Outing) as transgender by a television reporter. In the ensuing controversy, Renée takes the [United States Tennis Association](/source/United_States_Tennis_Association) to court, where she secures her right to play professional tournament tennis as a woman without being subjected to [chromosome testing](/source/Gender_verification_in_sports). ## Cast - [Vanessa Redgrave](/source/Vanessa_Redgrave) as Richard Radley/[Renée Richards](/source/Ren%C3%A9e_Richards)[3] - [Whit Hertford](/source/Whit_Hertford) as Young Richard Radley - [Martin Balsam](/source/Martin_Balsam) as Dr. Beck - [William Russ](/source/William_Russ) as Josh - [Alice Krige](/source/Alice_Krige) as Gwen - [Kerrie Keane](/source/Kerrie_Keane) as Meriam - [Richard Venture](/source/Richard_Venture) as Dr. David Radley - [Reni Santoni](/source/Reni_Santoni) as Dr. Roberto Granato - [Louise Fletcher](/source/Louise_Fletcher) as Dr. Sadie M. Bishop - [Jeff Corey](/source/Jeff_Corey) as Dr. [Harry Benjamin](/source/Harry_Benjamin) - [Camila Ashland](/source/Camila_Ashland) as Mrs. Brady ## Critical reception Critic John J. O'Connor of *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)* praised Redgrave's performance. Although noting that from a physical standpoint Redgrave is not very believable, O'Connor calls her performance "astonishingly convincing".[2] While finding the script wanting for its tendency to reduce complexities to cliches, O'Connor also found that *Second Serve* "does manage, despite oversimplifications and evasions, to stick to the point. But it is the extraordinary Redgrave performance that slams the message home."[2] *[New York](/source/New_York_(magazine))* magazine concurred in this assessment, with reviewer John Leonard calling the film "calm and matter-of-fact, and perhaps too tidy".[4] Leonard lavished Redgrave with praise for her performance, writing: Redgrave, tall and vulnerable, athletic and bewildered, fearful and loving competitive and lonely, manages to *transsex* both ways. She embodies, with the fine bones of that face and the twitching of her various limbs, every internal contradiction of the polymorphously perverse."[4] *Second Serve* was not universally praised by critics, receiving negative reviews from such outlets as the *[Chicago Sun-Times](/source/Chicago_Sun-Times)*.[5] Redgrave was nominated for an [Emmy Award](/source/Emmy_Award) and a [Golden Globe](/source/Golden_Globe) for her performance and *Second Serve* won Emmys for hairstyling and makeup. ## Notes 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Richards, Renée with John Ames. "Second Serve: the Renée Richards Story". New York City, New York, USA: [Stein and Day](/source/Stein_and_Day), March 1983, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0812828976](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0812828976) 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-nyt_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-nyt_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-nyt_2-2) O'Connor, John J. (May 13, 1986). ["CBS's 'Second Serve'"](https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE6D8113AF930A25756C0A960948260). *New York Times*. Retrieved December 5, 2008. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Richards' birth name was Richard Raskind but the name was changed to Richard Radley for the film. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-nym_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-nym_4-1) Leonard, John (May 19, 1986). ["Double Fault"](https://books.google.com/books?id=6OYCAAAAMBAJ&q=%22second+serve%22+%22vanessa+redgrave%22&pg=PA108). *New York*. pp. 108–9. Retrieved December 5, 2008. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Ruth, Daniel (May 13, 1986). ["Redgrave nets loss in 'Second Serve'"](https://web.archive.org/web/20121022150140/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3765779.html). *Chicago Sun-Times*. Archived from [the original](http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3765779.html) on October 22, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2008. ## External links - [*Second Serve*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091913/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e Films directed by Anthony Page Inadmissible Evidence (1968) Pueblo (1973) The Missiles of October (1974) F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood (1975) Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur (1976) I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977) Absolution (1978) The Lady Vanishes (1979) Bill (1981) Grace Kelly (1983) Bill: On His Own (1983) Forbidden (1984) Second Serve (1986) Monte Carlo (1986) Scandal in a Small Town (1988) The Nightmare Years (1989) Chernobyl: The Final Warning (1991) Silent Cries (1993) Middlemarch (1994) My Zinc Bed (2008) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Second Serve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Serve) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Serve?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.